Revered vulture investor made fortune buying, restructuring failed companies in steel, coal, textiles and car parts. Now bottom-fishing in banking: bought busted BankUnited of Florida for $900 million in May with partners. W.L. Ross & Co., one of 9 groups authorized by Treasury Department to buy toxic assets from banks in return for tax breaks; plans to invest up to $1 billion in distressed mortgages. New Jersey native yearned to be a writer; dropped dream as Yale undergrad, turned to Wall Street, Harvard Business School. Joined Rothschild 1976; cleaned up Drexel Burnham junk bond financings as bankruptcy specialist.